Events

The first annual Yard City Cask Fest, graciously hosted by Leah and Matt Riggs last Saturday, has been declared a resounding success.  At least 52 beer lovers (of legal drinking age) and several children attended the festivities under a cloudless early March sky where the mercury topped 59°F.  Approximately 113 Imperial Pints of cask conditioned, hand-pumped, eminently sessionable Bitter and Mild were enjoyed by those beer lovers, as well as dozens of beer-boiled bangers and many other delectable treats. The Union Jack waved proudly in the gentle late winter breeze.

It was great to see a few new faces at the event who will hopefully be inspired to become active in the club, as well as a few seasoned veterans who haven't made it to a meeting in a while. We are already anticipating that next year the event will outgrow the venue on S. Yantic (meaning we might need a bigger location), and we will try to recruit a few more brewers to supply beer. So start drawing up plans for your beer engine and start thinking about what you want to brew from BJCP Categories 8 and 11.

Here is a summary of the beers we had:

Brad's Best Bitter

• BJCP Style 8B Special/Best/Premium Bitter
• 4% ABV
• Brewed by Brad Ginn

Major Tom Mild

• BJCP Style 11A Mild
• 3.5% ABV
• Brewed by Matt Riggs

Captain Hastings Bitter

• BJCP Style 8A
• 4.4% ABV
• Brewed by Matt Riggs

Grampa Wigan

• BJCP Style 8A Standard/Ordinary Bitter
• 3.6% ABV
• Brewed by Matt Riggs

This showed up in our inbox the other day and I gotta say, it sounds like a blast. Washington's first true homebrew festival. I have visions of it morphing into a huge multi-day event a la the Northern California Homebrewers Festival. Let's get a group over there to participate and show off some of the awesome beers this club produces:

Save the Date!
Saturday, August 15th, 2009
BEERSTOCK 5060

The first, legal get-together of Washington homebrew clubs
to taste each other’s home brew and talk brewing across home brew club lines.

Thanks to the passing of Bill 5060, after July 26th, it will be legal to have this type of event. John, president of Beer Renegades of Everett Washington, and Chris, president of Cascade Brewers Guild, came up with the idea. Mark and Alison Joy, from the North Seattle Brew Club, have agreed to host the party on their 3 acre property North of Seattle, just three miles off 1-5 from the Stanwood/Camano Island Exit # 212 (near Arlington).

Each club can bring as many different brews as they’d like to share with other club’s members. Each club is responsible for their own jockey boxes and/or dispensing set-ups, signs, table and sun shield. Come a little early to pick your spot and set-up.

Events planned starting at 2:00pm:
-Sample other brew club member’s beer & talk with brewers.
-Bring a bottle of your home brew, sit down with a beer judge and discuss its merits. (not a competition)
-There will be beer games and a beer quiz with prizes awarded.
-A raffle for those in attendance.
-A pot luck dinner will be held around the bon-fire. (Extra bonus points for bringing a dish made with beer.)
-A used brewing equipment garage sale--bring what you want to sell and bring a list of what you need.

Each attendee must be a club member or club member’s spouse/partner and at least 21 years of age. All attendees will need to bring a tasting glass, a pot-luck dish (main course provided) and any non-alcoholic beverages they would like to consume. Chairs and camping gear are both welcomed and optional. Car pool if possible. Near-by hotels are available: Arlington Motor Inn 360-652-9595, Quality Inn 360-403-7222, Medallion Hotel 360-657-0500.

There is no charge to attend, however, we are going to rent porta-potties, so we’d like to talk to clubs who are planning to attend about pitching in.

Please discuss this at your next meeting.
If your club is interested in participating, please contact
John at rivera98208@yahoo.com or Alison at Alibabagrl@aol.com.
We will send you a stack of fliers and more detailed information on
BEERSTOCK 5060, August 15, 2009.

Chuckanut Brewery is sponsoring a bus tour of northern Washington breweries on August 8, and we are trying to get as many club members as possible to go. So far Brad and his wife are signed up and at least a few others have expressed interest. There are 38 spaces left on the bus as of this writing. Let's see if we can fill it up with West Sound Brewers. This will be a great opportunity to visit some breweries in our region that are a little bit out of the way for most of us.

Chuckanut is owned by Will and Mari Kemper of Thomas Kemper fame, so there is a Kitsap connection, a connection to some of the founding members of our club, and a bit of nostalgia for those who remember the awesome Kemper brewpub in Poulsbo.

The bus will depart from Brouwer's in Seattle and stop at Chuckanut & Boundary Bay in Bellingham, Anacortes Brewery, and Skagit River Brewery in Mount Vernon. The cost, $50, includes lunch at Chuckanut and sample tasters at each brewery. Chuckanut beers will also be available on the bus, which will have a bathroom (which is a great thing on a beer bus tour).

Here are all the details from the press release:

Northern Washington Summer Beer Bus Tour

The Northern Washington Summer Beer Bus Tour will begin and end in Seattle at Brouwer's Café (400 North 35th Street Seattle, WA 98103). Hosted by Chuckanut Brewery, the Bus Trip will leave on Saturday, August 8th at 10 a.m. traveling North to visit four Northern Washington Breweries: Chuckanut Brewery (Bellingham), Boundary Bay (Bellingham), Anacortes Brewery (Anacortes), Skagit River Brewery (Mt. Vernon). The Beer Bus Tour will have Chuckanut Beer on tap on the bus, along with bathrooms. Sample Tasters at each Brewery with a bbq lunch at Chuckanut Brewery, included in the price of admission. Advance Registration is required by Saturday, August 1st and ticket price is $50 dollars. Must be 21 and older. Contact Chuckanut Brewery 360-752-3377 for purchasing tickets.

BBQ Lunch at Chuckanut Brewery will be a choice of Local Hempler Brats with house sauerkraut, Local Misty Isle Cheese burgers, and Garden Burgers all served with Tim's Potato chips. Jim Parker (Assistant Brewer, Chuckanut Brewery) & Skip Madsen (Washington Brewer) long time friends, will be reuniting as hosts to the Northern Washington Summer Beer Bus Tour, they guarantee that it will be more fun than you should ever be allowed to have! For more details and purchasing tickets please contact Jim Parker at jim.parker@chuckanutbreweryandkitchen.com or 360-752-3377.

Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen, located in Old Town, Bellingham, it is a brewery and restaurant offering a full-service menu. Started by the originators of Thomas Kemper Brewery in 1984, Mari and Will Kemper are now pleased to welcome guests to their new brewery and restaurant starting at 11:30 am every day.

Hi All,
Our meeting for May takes place on Saturday, May 2, at the Wyatts' about 3 miles north of Poulsbo. I'm assuming they'll let us set up for brewing as early as 9AM since the international Big Toast takes place at 10AM. We'll let you know if otherwise in our reminder mailing next week.

Don will be firing up the grill(s) so bring whatever you'd like to grill, snacks, and easy to serve potluck dishes.

This is also Big Brew 2009, see details below. If you're interested in checking out fellow brewers' systems, techniques, and ingredients, or if you just want to hang with fellow brewers, or if you just can't get enough of the smell of boiling hops and malt, don't miss this event.

Contact Us for directions.

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Since our meeting is so early in May we're considering arranging a Seattle and/or Tacoma area pub crawl(s) later in May, perhaps in association with some Seattle Beer Week events. Come to Big Brew and express your interests.

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National Homebrew Day/Big Brew details
http://beertown.org/events/bigbrew/

2009 Big Brew Recipes
This year's Big Brew recipes are the tale of two AHA members whose homebrew recipes have gone on to be brewed by craft breweries.

Dave Levonian's award-winning Saison recipes have been brewed by Ballast Point Brewery for the 2008 Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition, and by the Lost Abbey Brewery as one of the commemorative beers for the 2009 National Homebrewers Conference this June in Oakland, CA.

Jim Denier is an award-winning homebrewer who brought his Dark Mild recipe with him when he started brewing at Dry Dock Brewing Co. in Aurora, CO. The SS Minnow Mild Ale is a favorite at the brewery, and was a favorite with the 2008 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) judges too; it was the silver medal beer in the Session Beer category!

We hope you enjoy brewing this year’s Big Brew recipes! If you have any left, bring it with you to the National Homebrewers Conference in Oakland, CA this June to share!

BIG BREW FACTS-
2008 More than 10,500 gallons were brewed by almost 4000 participants at 242 sites on six continents worldwide. Sites were registered in 42 states in the US, as well as in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, Israel, Kenya, The Netherlands, Russia, and Uryguay.
2007 Over 9000 gallons of homebrew brewed by more than 4000 participants at 242 sites on four continents worldwide. There were sites in 42 states, as well as Israel, Australia, Argentina, and Russia.
2005 7,347 gallons of homebrew brewed worldwide at 210 Big Brew sites by 2,956 participants.
2003 3,706 gallons of homebrew were produced at 157 Big Brew sites by 1,405 participants worldwide.
2001 5,185 gallons of beer were brewed at 182 brewing sites by 1,864 participants worldwide.

Here's a reminder from Alan about the sherry tasting and the March meeting:

Hi All,
My PC is out of commission at the moment so I'm sending our reminder email first this time and the regular newsletter next week when I hope to have everything up and running again.

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On this Saturday, March 7, there's a sherry tasting/tapas event at the Moum's north of Poulsbo from noon-whenever. If you have any apps or potluck dish you think will go well with sherry please bring them along. Sherry varies from bone dry to syrupy sweet. I have a bunch of glassware but you might want to consider bringing 2-3 of your favorite smaller sampling glasses for side by side comparisons.

Contact Us for directions to Alan's.

I meant to send or print out some basic info about sherry but due to the PC problems and work requirements you might want to take a look online for yourself. I hope to have a few printouts there on Saturday.

Here's the sherry inventory so far:
Lustau Papirusa Light Manzanilla - 375ml
Sanlucarde Barrameda La Guita Manzanilla - 375ml
Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla - 375ml?
Alvear Fino en Rama 2002 Montilla-Moriles - 375ml

Tio Pepe Palomino Fino Muy Seco -375ml
Lustau Light Fino Jarana - 375ml
Real Tesoro Pale Dry Sherry - 750ml

Real Tesoro Amonitllado Sherry - 750ml
Lustau Dry Amontillado Los Arcos - 375ml?
Barbadillo Amontillado Medium Dry - 750ml
Barbadillo Amontillado Medium - 750ml

Lustau Palo Cortado Peninsula - 750ml

Williams & Humbert Dry Sack

Hartley & Gibson's Oloroso
Bodegas Hidalgo Faraon Oloroso - 500ml

Manfred Vierthaler American Cream Sherry - 750ml
Real Tesoro Cream Sherry - 750ml
Harveys Bristol Cream - 750ml
Barbadillo Muscatel Sherry - 750ml
Pedro Romero Moscatel -750ml
Lustau DeLuxe Cream Capataz Andrés - 375ml
Alvear's Cream Montilla - 750ml
Lustau East India Solera - 375ml
Lustau PX Pedro Ximenez - 375ml?
Bodegas Dios Baco Pedro Ximenez Oxford 1.970 - 500ml
Bodegas Toro Albala Don P.X. La Noria 2003 PX - 375ml
Osborne Pedro Ximenez 1827 - 750ml
Alvear PX de aùada 2003 - 375ml
Alvear Solera 1927 Pedro Ximenez - 375ml

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Saturday, March 14, 12-?, same location, WSB mtg/imperial stout tasting. Bring whatever homebrews you want to show off, and if you don't have any try to bring imperial stout/porter or their equivalents. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get out an inventory of imp. stouts prior to this event. I'll try.

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At our latest meeting John Altman was voted president, Mark Hood Veep, Vic Keranen Treasurer, and Alan Moum and Brad Ginn still maintain their (apparently lifetime) positions as data guys. If you have great ideas for the club and an interest in any of these positions please let us know and nonviolent coups may begin.

Skal, Alan

Several club members made the trek to Port Townsend for the 5th annual Strange Brewfest at Water Street Brewing on Saturday, 1/24. This time around Chris Devlin came over from Seattle to join us in the fun. As always, there was a good selection of strange and unique beers to be sampled, although fewer breweries participated this year than in the past. Hopefully that is not a trend that will continue. It seems like every year we hear grumblings that Water Street may not host the event the next year due to various reasons. It would be a shame if that happens, because Strange Brew really gives area breweries a chance to stretch their legs and make some excellent beers you'll never find anywhere else.

As always, Elk Head from Buckley showed up with a strong contingent of fans and a solid lineup of beers. They brought four beers, but were only pouring two initially, hoping to save the other two for Sunday's session. I don't think they were successful as the first two ran out by late afternoon on Saturday and they started pouring the others. The first two they were pouring were a smoked beet ale and Sting Ya, a golden ale with stinging nettles in place of hops. Don't worry, heating the nettles destroys the compound that causes the stinging sensation. I guess Elk Head figured they couldn't beat the Habanero Porter they brought last year on the heat-o-meter, so unfortunately they didn't have a chili beer in the lineup this time around.

Another perennial favorite who showed up this year was Iron Horse out of Ellensburg. They bring solid beers every year and this time was no exception. Their Black Belgian (a black beer fermented w/ Saison yeast, with whiskey & oak) appeared to the a favorite of a lot of attendees (this one included). It had a lot of Saison character, with a noticeable bitter orange peel flavor produced by the yeast (no actual orange peel in this beer). Their other beer was a Black IPA (notice a theme here?), which unfortunately I didn't have a chance to sample.

Perhaps the most interesting/strangest beer was the Caramel Tiramisu beer from Flyers in Oak Harbor. It was amazing how much this beer tasted like its name. They almost nailed the tiramisu flavor and it would have been spot on if it had a hint of coffee. You could smell this beer from 5 feet away. It brings new meaning to the term "dessert beer." You wouldn't want to drink an entire pint of it because it was so rich, but a small snifter with a cup of coffee after dinner would be excellent. Flyers other beer, a bourbon/vanilla/oak aged imperial stout was also excellent.

Some other notable beers were Water Street's Chocolate/Mint Winter Ale, Naked City's Blackberry/Sage Dubbel (a lot of sage in this one, not much blackberry), Lazy Boy's Cactus Beer, and Georgetown Brewing's 9# Porter with banana, whiskey, and chocolate shavings sprinkled on top. There were several other breweries and beers that I should mention, but I didn't take any notes, and since I was driving I had a pretty low limit to the number of beers I could sample. Hopefully some of the other club members who were there will chime in with their thoughts and I'll add them to the bottom of this post. Click on the scan to see the list of breweries who participated. Not everyone on that list showed up, unless they were there for Sunday's session. If I remember correctly we counted 22 of the 26 breweries listed on the sheet actually at the fest.

Just like every year the fest was very crowded, but the masses were well behaved (at least while we were there) and you could make your way through the crowd to the beer with a little patience. The weather was partly sunny but cold, until the sun went down when it just got plain cold. The patio heaters were a popular place to congregate and worked well to take the chill off.

After leaving Strange Brew at around 7 pm, we headed over to Port Townsend Brewing's taproom for a couple sampler platters of their beers. The taproom is rather large, comfortable, and an obvious favorite hangout for the locals. I'm always impressed with the lineup of beers Port Townsend keeps on tap at the brewery (I think they had 12 on that night), but I guess that should be a post for another time.

Hi All,
Two local beer events popped up and I figured a good number of you will be interested. -Alan

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Halloween Potluck
Saturday, October 25th
4pm->

Carved Pumpkin Contest
(...carved in advance please.)

Costumes are welcome, but are quite optional.

Hood Canal Brewery
360-297-8316
Open Daily 12-8pm
www.hoodcanalbrewery.com
hoodcanalbrewery@gmail.com

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I hit the Harbor Public House last night to visit Linda and to check out the Hale's month events. If you've never been to Hale's brewery in Seattle now you can get almost all of their beers on Bainbridge and save the cost of the ferry/bus/gas, etc. The Harbor House has Hale's 3 nitro taps-Cream Ale, Cream Stout, and Cream HSB (Hale's Special Bitter). They also have a couple rotating cask engines, last night I had an awesome cask pour of O'Brien's Harvest Ale. Their barley wine, Rudyard's Rare, is also on tap and is tasting mighty fine, if surprisingly hoppy when first served a bit cold. Other than those they have Hale's American Pale Ale, El Jefe Weizen, Red Menace Amber, Troll Porter, Mongoose IPA, Wee Heavy Winter Ale, and even the Kolsch. Sorry, the tripel blew before I got there. All of Hale's ales are open fermented the old English way, most with the same original strain of yeast that Mike Hale brought back from England circa 1980 (from Gale's Brewery of Gale's Prize Old Ale fame). Mike Hale is also a long time Kitsap resident. Head on in to the pub and enjoy the fruits of his labor and love for real ale. Our clubmate Linda generally works Thurs-Sun evenings and Wednesday evenings too.

The awards presentation for the 3rd Annual Kitsap County Fair Homebrew Competition will take place at 7PM Friday, September 12 at Hood Canal Brewery. If you entered some brew come pick up your ribbons and evaluation sheets. If you did not, why not? Come celebrate the other brewers and drink some good local brew while you're at it.

Don Wyatt, a long time WSB member, opened Hood Canal Brewery in September 1996. If you've forgotten how to get there check out Don's website:
http://www.hoodcanalbrewery.com/

If you don't make it to the awards ceremony you can pick up your awards and evaluation sheets at Hood Canal Brewery or Olympic Brewing Supplies anytime after the event, but please pick them up promptly so our hosts don't have to worry about misplacing them. If you're underwater for a few months we understand, though you might want to consider having someone pick up your stuff ASAP.